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History of the Second World War: United Kingdom Military Series
Victory in the West Volume I
Narrative version of the British official history of World War II. Very similar in style to the US Army 'Green Books', but the approach is to integrate accounts of all the air - sea and land battles of the theatre. This particular volume covers the same material as that found in the Green Books 'Cross Channel Attack' and 'Breakout and Pursuit'.
It is a full and detailled account of the battle for Normandy and goes in to great detail about the strategy of drawing the German armoured divisions onto the British left flank.
It is a full and detailled account of the battle for Normandy and goes in to great detail about the strategy of drawing the German armoured divisions onto the British left flank.
779 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 1962
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About the author
Lionel Frederic Ellis
6 booksA veteran of the First World War, Lionel Frederic Ellis served as General Secretary of the National Council of Social Service from 1919 until 1937 and then Secretary of the National Fitness Council from 1937 until 1939. Returning to the Welsh Guards at the start of the Second World War, Ellis was subsequently appointed to write three volumes on the history of the conflict.
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June 11, 2017
A decent - but flawed - overview of the Normandy campaign from the British perspective, including the political, strategic, logistical, and military aspects of it.
The book falls short in several places with the description of some of the fighting and in regards to accuracy. For example, online discussions have suggested that casualty information for D-Day may be suspect, and some of the details of the fighting elsewhere in the campaign are outdated by more modern research. Ellis' work has come in for major criticism over the years for the downplaying of events and not being critical enough. Perhaps the major weakness of the work is, as this was the British official take on the fighting, the lack of an attempt to engage in the debate on what the strategic plans for the campaign was (which had already erupted by the point of publication).
The book falls short in several places with the description of some of the fighting and in regards to accuracy. For example, online discussions have suggested that casualty information for D-Day may be suspect, and some of the details of the fighting elsewhere in the campaign are outdated by more modern research. Ellis' work has come in for major criticism over the years for the downplaying of events and not being critical enough. Perhaps the major weakness of the work is, as this was the British official take on the fighting, the lack of an attempt to engage in the debate on what the strategic plans for the campaign was (which had already erupted by the point of publication).
Displaying 1 of 1 review